A big news related to the US space agency NASA (NASA) has come out. About 3,870 NASA employees are scheduled to leave the agency soon. All these will leave the job under Voluntary Resignation Program. The move has been taken by the administration of US President Donald Trump under the policy of budget cuts in government agencies and reducing the federal workforce.
Authorities have chosen an alternative route to avoid pruning in NASA – instead of removing employees, the option has been given to resign. The agency has clarified that the number of 3,870 employees whose names have been revealed at the moment may decrease or increase after review.
Resignation in two phases by 2025
NASA has given employees the option to voluntarily quit the job in two different occasions within 2025. In addition, about 500 employees are leaving the agency for regular retirement or personal reasons. After these resignations, NASA’s total workforce will be reduced to about 14,000.
Second big round of resignations
This is the second major wave of resignations in NASA. The first round began in the early years of the Trump administration on the initiative of the Government Efficiency Department led by Allen Musk.
This time, under this new phase of resignation started in June, employees were given the opportunity to apply till 25 July. So far, around 3,000 employees have accepted the proposal, which is around 16.4% of the total workforce.
Fear of impact on mission
NASA said in its official statement: “Security is our top priority. Along with becoming a more skilled organization, we are also ensuring that the capabilities of our moon and Mars missions remain completely.”
However, many space experts and former scientists believe that such a large number of employees may have a negative impact on NASA’s technical skills, research speeds and future space operations.
